So as I think back about the last game (which I will be doing a lot all off season) I keep wondering what happened to this:

Did BB and the Pats lose their copy somewhere? Why didn't they have a plan B? Plan A was not working! What happened? All they had to do was get by the Jets and by the looks of yesterdays games they would be heavily favored to win the SuperBowl. Woulda, coulda, shoulda... I know!

I agree. It goes back to coaching. I saw the Steelers come out and pound the rock against the Jets zones and they did it well. Is Mendenhall better than Woody/Benny? Maybe but it's marginal at best...

The coaching will evolve over time and this playoff game was a great learning lesson for the offensive playcalling. The defensive playcalling has been fine all year and the youngs guys contributed well and beyond what was expected. That's probably attributed to Belichick's direct involvement with the defense this year. I assume his logic was to mold the young talent while they're young and "stupid." It seemed to have an impact. No, we did not get stops when we needed to but that's a talent issue. After losing all the guys we lost, we couldn't have overhauled our ENTIRE team in one offseason: not enough picks, draftable players, and funds to do that. Plus, the Patriots don't make heat-of-the-moment moves.

As for coaching, I see people screaming for Romeo or Dick LeBeau. People don't get that the coaching was good enough to win us 14 ball games in a rebuilding year. Clearly, we have enough there. It's just a matter of it all coming together in time for January football. Romeo, McDaniels, Charlie Weiss, those guys aren't coming here. They'll come here, do well with Brady as their QB and Belichick as their head coach and they'll always be seen as "the guys that only do well under the Great Belichick." That's career suicide. Belichick has no choice but to groom his own coaching talent internally. That way, when the next guy gets poached, which you know will happen, he'll have another guy waiting in line.

It's laughable that people blame "ego" or "the Patriot way." Yes, if you win 5 Super Bowls and go to at least 6-7, you have a way, a method. And why would you change that just because you don't win it every year?!

I think ten points on the first two drives of that game vs the Jests and this thread isn't here. Yesterday's game against Pittsburgh clearly showed to me a tl east that the Jests were lucky to beat us.Posted by Patsfansince1966

I wouldn't say they were lucky. If Brady doesn't throw the pick on a seemingly easy throw and if Crumpler hangs on for the easy TD catch (easy for him at least), we're looking at 14-0 + a missed FG for the Jets + an offensive gameplan for the Jets that has to be considering ditching the run + the "oh no, here we go again" sulking. It was more of us failing to NOT execute but I wouldn't call it luck. On that day, they made plays we failed to make.

Another great thing that I heard from Belichick after the Jets loss was something like this:

[when asked what changes have to be made for the team to be better next year]

"The important thing is to take some time to step away from the season and make decisions and plans that aren't in the heat of the moment. We won 14 games in the regular season, lost the most important game of the season, so there's certainly something to take away from the year."

That statement alone is something at least 25% of the teams in the NFL can learn from. Not to mention, 100% of the fan bases.

I think all the woulda/couldas will drive you nuts if you let them. There are dozens of successive changes of fortune in a highly competitive game, and NYJ fans probably could point to a few coulda/wouldas that coulda/woulda made the NE-NYJ game a blowout. There certainly doesn't seem to be a large talent differential, but I agree with the notion that the Pats got outcoach on that given day...

- Brady only gets to start because Bledsoe gets creamed. Even with that lucky break, it was all about what Brady did with the chance. Would Belichick, after being fired from Cleveland (and the Kosar trade), have willingly sat $100 million Drew Bledsoe for a 199th pick otherwise?

- The Tuck Rule. People (jealous fans) say the dynasty was built on luck and a bogus rule. Fine but that rule had nothing to do with Adam making that ridiculous kick or Brady leading the Patriots down the field for a game-winning Super Bowl drive. It still boiled down to execution, even though they enforced a misunderstood rule to get us that chance.

- David Tyree's catch could be luck but the guy hung on for a tough catch while ASSante dropped an easier INT, especially for a Pro Bowl DB standards.

The Jets got "lucky" with those plays but they still executed their defensive gameplan flawlessly, still didnt turn the ball over on offense, still attacked Brady relentlessly, and took advantage of Patriots miscues (Chung's botch, most importantly)

I'm sure Belichick will tell the guys they lost because of poor execution, not because the Jets got lucky. You can't teach and coach when you pinpoint a loss on just bad luck.

I certainly respect your view though. I just don't see a loss that way.

Say what you want about coaching.You saw a useless offense the FIRST half of the game. COACHING, a team that had NO time off, was put to the test and a "plan B" was drawn up to attack Pitt's defense. 0 first half to almost an upset the second half.Was O'brien watching?

I think ten points on the first two drives of that game vs the Jests and this thread isn't here. Yesterday's game against Pittsburgh clearly showed to me a tl east that the Jests were lucky to beat us.Posted by Patsfansince1966

The Jets won against the Pats because they had a better plan and executed better, plain and simple. Yesterday the Jets didn't and that's why the Steelers won. With the exception of the fake punt, which was probably the correct decision but executed poorly, there were no freak or outrageously lucky plays.

But, from a Pats fans viewpoint there is a bright side; while the Pats lost their only playoff game against the hated Jets at least the Jets didn't win it all.

Say what you want about coaching. You saw a useless offense the FIRST half of the game. COACHING, a team that had NO time off, was put to the test and a "plan B" was drawn up to attack Pitt's defense. 0 first half to almost an upset the second half. Was O'brien watching?Posted by 3SB-rings

So as I think back about the last game (which I will be doing a lot all off season) I keep wondering what happened to this: Did BB and the Pats lose their copy somewhere? Why didn't they have a plan B? Plan A was not working! What happened? All they had to do was get by the Jets and by the looks of yesterdays games they would be heavily favored to win the SuperBowl. Woulda, coulda, shoulda... I know!Posted by BradyMossFan

The Patriots lost the battle of field positions. When you give opponents to start every offensive play at the 50-yard line, 99.9% of the time your team will lose.

There were few key plays that could have turned the outcome of the game...the Pats missed all those key plays.

To these days...I'm still thinking vividly about the game...how did the Pats managed to lose the game. I'm sure every Patriot (players) and BB are still thinking the same. BB said it right after the game "We are a better team than we played today".

i think in the early years of the dynasty the coordinators were experienced... but even with that alot of the games were close and could have gone either way but the crustyness of some of the coaching and the veterans got us over the hump....

since 07...this team has been overhauled... and this year it came together nice... but when the sh*t hit the fan..you still had a lot of inexperience...even with that the game was still in contention with 28 seconds left...and I think that had to do with bradys experience... peopel say he was stumped but to me he was not making mistakes(forcing the ball)... and there were 2 or 3 plays that if they go different we win... go back and check the three previous post bye week games... tough hardfought wins..

so thats my rub... they were young and just got beat... and im not just talking about players...